Wolverine Anime: "Kurohagi" Review

The action improves right as we head into the finale.

I was really expecting the tail end of this series to be utterly horrible, but I have to say that there's a marked improvement here. It's still far from good television, but it's certainly watchable and even entertaining in a few areas.

The action here is not horrible, besides the fact that Kurohagi's guards can't seem to shoot anything. Even with machine guns, at close range. Either Logan and his pals are ephemeral, or these guys are worse at shooting than stormtroopers.

Shingen and Koh have a showdown of old farts, and I have to admit it's not bad. Shingen goads Koh with some appropriate jibes, and just when it looks like Koh is down and out, he throws out a few kunai hidden up a sleeve. Clever old coot.

But Shingen is impervious to the weapons, and just as he's about to bring the pain, Yukio shows up and attacks him in a dazzling sequence that reminded me of the badassery in her first real fight of the series. There was a time when this show actually had a few pretty good action scenes, and this one reminds me of the potential the series once showed. But there is a little scene where Yukio goes into rage-mode and unleashes a seemingly endless barrage of throwing knives. I know this is a comic adaptation and some implausibilities are to be expected, but girlfriend surely does not have dozens of knives up her sleeve, especially not in that catsuit. But I digress...

This episode is named after Kurohagi, and he spends most of his limited screen time being as unpleasant as possible and trying to get the wedding over with. Mariko, the whole reason we're here, is pretty much just a showpiece in the story. She hardly says or does anything to make her an sympathetic character beyond the fact she's betrothed to a thoroughly horrible man.

Luckily, this show does have a few slightly more interesting characters. Koh ends up sacrificing himself to save Yukio, which creates the expected last moment of bonding between the two. Then Logan and Shingen face off, only to be interrupted. Meanwhile, Kikyo is just watching the thing unfold, having switched sides. Shingen is all, "Didn't I pay you to get rid of this dude?" and Kikyo is all, "You can kiss my narrow ass. That's not how I roll." I'm paraphrasing, of course, but Kikyo is certainly very impudent here, and I assume that's because he thinks he can take Shingen if it came down to it. That might actually be a more interesting battle since Wolverine just can't get a break against this guy, and ends up with a sword wind blast to the face. But you don't need a nose to fight, and Wolverine thrives on getting his ass beat and coming back for more.

Of course, Wolverine will be triumphant in the end. The question is how it will come to pass. This episode showed that the series is a little like Koh – it's old and busted but it still has a few tricks up its sleeve. But, even if the episode stinks, I'll still be happy because it'll finally be over!